Michael O'Hare Announced as Soccer Assistant Coach

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. - Little Rock Head Soccer Coach Kelly Farrell announced the hiring of Michael O'Hare as the Trojans' new assistant coach on Wednesday, working primarily with the field players.

O'Hare comes to Little Rock after serving the past two years as an assistant coach for Sam Houston State in Huntsville, Texas. Hired prior to the 2020 season, O'Hare helped lead the Bearkats to the Southland Conference Tournament finals in his first year as an assistant coach. This run produced three all-tournament players in Brooke Jones, Courtney Pawlik and Dani Forsyth with Brooke Jones also gaining all-conference honors. 

"I could not be more excited for Michael to join our staff," Farrell said of her newest assistant coach. "He has a wide range of experiences across different levels of soccer that I know will benefit our student-athletes. He is extremely knowledgeable and a great teacher of the game, but his ability to connect and develop relationships with student-athletes was what really set Michael apart for me. Michael has already positively impacted our program and I'm excited to work alongside him in our quest to compete for an OVC title." 

"First, I want to say thank you to Kelly Farrell, Maggie Bailey, George Lee and the whole athletic department for granting me an opportunity to join the Little Rock Athletics family," O'Hare said of his addition to Little Rock's Team. "I'm extremely excited for the opportunity to get in and work with this new set of players and continue the standard that has been Little Rock Soccer. I think there is a great opportunity with joining the Ohio Valley Conference to compete right away for championships. I fully believe in the vision Kelly has for the team and for the program for the present and for the future and am very blessed to be given the chance to be a part of it. I look forward to working with an incredible group of young women and helping them grow into the best versions of themselves as players, as people, and as ambassadors for Little Rock." 

O'Hare also helped to develop two players of the week for the Bearkats in Katarina Baehren and Abby Delozier in his first year with the program. In 2021, O'Hare helped coach the team to the conference tournament again this time in the WAC by finishing 6-4 in conference and taking 3rd in the west division. In this season Abby Delozier again won a keeper of the week award for the WAC and goalkeeper Tatum Krueger had the second highest save percentage in the WAC at 85.7%.

Prior to Sam Houston State, O'Hare spent three seasons as a volunteer assistant at Oklahoma State where he helped the Cowgirls' win Big 12 regular season championships in both 2017 and 2019, picking up 16 wins in both seasons with O'Hare on the staff. The Cowgirls' program was also recognized as having the 2019 United Soccer Coaches Midwest Staff of the Year. 

O'Hare holds national "B," "C," "D" and "E" licenses from the United States Soccer Federation and Goalkeeping Level I-III licenses from the National Coaches Association of America. He also is an Olympic Development Program Region III Staff coach.

A six-year member of the coaching staff at Stillwater High School, O'Hare helped lead the Pioneers to four state tournament appearances, including a Class 6A state runner-up finish in 2017. He served as an Oklahoma High School All-State coach in 2011 and 2016.

A native of Oklahoma City, O'Hare graduated from Oklahoma State with a psychology degree in May 2015. He is also a graduate of Bishop McGuinness Catholic High School where he played on three district championship teams and a state title winner as a prep and was named an all-state goalkeeper in 2010.

For the latest information on Little Rock Soccer, make sure to check out LRTrojans.com. You can also find the team on social media at @LittleRockSOC on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.
 
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